In the Supreme Court of the United States
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Nos. 99-1462, 99-1739 and 99-1745 In the Supreme Court of the United States CITY OF FORT WORTH, PETITIONER v. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION DALLAS-FORT WORTH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT BOARD, PETITIONER v. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC., PETITIONER v. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ON PETITIONS FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT BRIEF FOR THE RESPONDENT IN OPPOSITION SETH P. WAXMAN Solicitor General NANCY E. MCFADDEN Counsel of Record General Counsel JOEL I. KLEIN PAUL M. GEIER Assistant Attorney General Assistant General Counsel ROBERT B. NICHOLSON for Litigation MARION L. JETTON THOMAS L. RAY Attorneys Senior Attorney Department of Justice Department of Transportation Washington, D.C. 20530-0001 Washington, D.C. 20590 (202) 514–2217 QUESTIONS PRESENTED 1. Whether the City of Dallas is precluded by the pre- emption provision of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, 49 U.S.C. 41713(b), or by two subsequent Acts of Congress, the Wright and Shelby Amendments, from restricting routes and services operated by airlines from its Love Field airport. 2. Whether agreements between the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Board and various airlines, which pro- vide that the airlines will not use competing airports such as Love Field without the Board’s permission, are preempted by federal law. 3. Whether the Department of Transportation was bound by a state court judgment, recently reversed on ap- peal, in a suit brought by the City of Fort Worth against the City of Dallas, to which the United States was not a party and in which the state court interpreted federal statutes governing Love Field service. 4. Whether the Department of Transportation correctly construed the Wright and Shelby Amendments as permit- ting “through service” from Love Field when the initial por- tion of the trip is to another location within Texas and is made on an aircraft with a capacity of no more than 56 pas- sengers. (I) TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Opinions below ............................................................................... 1 Jurisdiction ...................................................................................... 2 Statement ........................................................................................ 3 Argument ........................................................................................ 15 Conclusion ....................................................................................... 29 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Cases: American Airlines v. Wolens, 513 U.S. 219 (1995) ........ 4, 8, 18, 23 Arapahoe County Pub. Airport Auth. v. Centennial Express Airlines, Inc., 956 P.2d 587 (Colo. 1998) ........ 19, 20, 21 Associated Gen. Contractors v. Metropolitan Water Dist., 159 F.3d 1178 (9th Cir. 1998) ....................... 24 Bath Iron Works Corp. v. Director, Office of Work- ers Compensation Programs, 125 F.3d 18 (1st Cir. 1997) ......................................................................................... 26 British Airways Bd. v. Port Auth., 564 F.2d 1002 (2d Cir. 1977) ................................................................. 16 Building & Constr. Trades Council v. Associated Builders & Contractors, 507 U.S. 218 (1993) .................. 14, 24 Centennial Express Airlines v. Arapahoe County Pub. Airport Auth., FAA Order No. 1991-1 (Feb. 28, 1999) ........................................................................................ 21 Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources De- fense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984) .................... 13, 14, 27 City & County of San Francisco v. FAA, 942 F.2d 1391 (9th Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 983 (1992) ............. 16 City of Burbank v. Lockheed Air Terminal, Inc., 411 U.S. 624 (1973) ................................................................ 22 City of Dallas v. Department of Transp., No. 3-97CV- 2734-T (N.D. Tex., filed Nov. 6, 1997) ................................ 7-8 (III) IV Cases—Continued: Page City of Fort Worth v. City of Dallas, No. 48-171109-97 (Tarrant County Tex. Dist. Ct., filed Oct. 10, 1997) .... 7, 8, 12 City of Houston v. FAA, 679 F.2d 1184 (5th Cir. 1982) ......................................................................................... 19, 20 Continental Air Lines v. Department of Transp., 843 F.2d 1444 (D.C. Cir. 1988) ............................................. 5, 28 Cramer v. Skinner, 931 F.2d 1020 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 907 (1991) .................................................. 5, 6 Freightliner Corp. v. Myrick, 514 U.S. 280 (1995) .......... 21 Geier v. American Honda Motor Co., No. 98-1811 (May 22, 2000) ......................................................................... 21 Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994) ............................ 26 Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52 (1941) ............................ 21 Kansas v. United States, 16 F.3d 436 (D.C. Cir.), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 945 (1994) ......................................... 5 Legend Airlines v. City of Fort Worth, No. 2-99- 088-CV (Tex. Ct. App.—Fort Worth May 25, 2000) ......................................................................................... 7, 25 Midgett v. United States, 603 F.2d 835 (Ct. Cl. 1979) ......................................................................................... 26 Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc. 504 U.S. 374 (1992) ........................................................................................ 2 NLRB v. Yellow Freight Sys., Inc., 930 F.2d 316 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 820 (1991) ........................ 25 National Helicopter Corp. v. City of N.Y., 137 F.3d 81 (2d Cir. 1998) ..................................................................... 16, 19 New England Legal Found. v. Mass. Port. Auth., 883 F.2d 157 (1st Cir. 1989) ......................................................... 18 Northwest Airlines v. County of Kent, 510 U.S. 355 (1994) ........................................................................................ 8 Town of Deerfield v. FCC, 992 F.2d 420 (2d Cir. 1993) ......................................................................................... 26 United States v. Mendoza, 464 U.S. 154 (1984) ................ 26 University of Tenn. v. Elliott, 478 U.S. 788 (1986) ......... 26 Western Air Lines, Inc. v. Port Auth., 817 F.2d 222 (2d Cir. 1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 1006 (1988) ............. 19 V Statutes: Page Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, Pub. L. No. 95-504, 92 Stat. 1705 (1978) ................................................................ 2 49 U.S.C. 40113(a) ............................................................. 4 49 U.S.C. 41713 .................................................................. 4 49 U.S.C. 41713(b) ............................................ 2, 9, 10, 12, 15 49 U.S.C. 41713(b)(1) ........................................................ 15 49 U.S.C. 41713(b)(3) .................................................. 2, 15, 16 49 U.S.C. 46101(a)(2) ........................................................ 4 Department of Transportation and Related Appro- priations Act of 1998, Pub. L. No. 105-66, § 337, 111 111 Stat. 1447 (Shelby Amendment) ............................. 4 International Air Transportation Competition Act of 1979, Pub. L. No. 96-192, § 29, 94 Stat. 48 (Wright Amendment) ...................................................................... 3 28 U.S.C. 1738 ............................................................................ 12, 25 Miscellaneous: 124 Cong. Rec. (1978): pp. 37,419-37,420 .................................................................... 17 p. 38,526 ................................................................................... 17 H.R. Rep. No. 716, 96th Cong., 1st Sess. (1979) .................. 6, 21 In the Supreme Court of the United States No. 99-1462 CITY OF FORT WORTH, PETITIONER v. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION No. 99-1739 DALLAS-FORT WORTH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT BOARD, PETITIONER v. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION No. 99-1745 AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC., PETITIONER v. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ON PETITIONS FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT BRIEF FOR THE RESPONDENT IN OPPOSITION OPINIONS BELOW The opinion of the court of appeals (Pet. App. 1-52) is reported at 202 F.3d 788. The orders of the Department of Transportation (Pet. App. 53-177) are unreported.1 1 “Pet. App.” refers to the appendix to Fort Worth’s petition for a writ of certiorari (No. 99-1462). “FW Pet.,” “AA Pet.,” and “DFW Pet.” (1) 2 JURISDICTION The judgment of the court of appeals (Pet. App. 1-52) was entered on February 1, 2000. The petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 99-1462 was filed on March 3, 2000. The petitions for a writ of certiorari in No. 99-1739 and No. 99- 1745 were filed on May 1, 2000. The jurisdiction of this Court is invoked under 28 U.S.C. 1254(1). STATEMENT In the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, Pub. L. No. 95- 504, 92 Stat. 1705, Congress deregulated the domestic airline industry. The Act, after a phase-in period, allowed each airline to operate from any commercial airport and to serve any domestic route without prior regulatory approval. To ensure that state and local governments would not replace federal regulation with regulation of their own, Congress included a preemption provision, which barred state and local governments from enforcing any law “related to a price, route, or service of an air carrier.” 49 U.S.C. 41713(b); see Morales